Method and apparatus for simulating the processing of a workpiece

Abstract

A method and apparatus for simulating the processing of a workpiece by boring or milling by an internal computer model in which the workpiece is described by its corner points and surfaces and a bore or a milling process is described by its enveloping contour. The apparatus includes data memories in which information data about the corner points, the surfaces and the enveloping contour are stored. A control mechanism is connected to the data memories for allocating the information to geometric elements that are deposited in work memories and between which a computing mechanism determines intersection points and stores them in an intersection point memory. The control mechanism links the information data about the previous state of the model, the enveloping contour of the milling operation and the intersection points into a description of the workpiece after processing in the internal computer model and brings it into representation on a display unit.

I claim: 
     
       1. A method for simulating and representing the processing of a workpiece by a tool including a numerically controlled machine tool in which, with the aid of data structures, there are formed polygonal boundaries of workpiece surfaces and tool path contours altered by reciprocal three-dimensional linkages, characterized by the following steps: a) storing the polygonal boundaries of the workpiece surfaces and the tool path contours as closed chains having corner points and direction-oriented contour elements as connections between the corner points, the polygonal boundaries of the workpiece and the tool path contour being oppositely direction-oriented;   b) identifying, in three dimensions, the intersection points between the contour elements of the polygonal boundaries of the workpiece and the tool path contour; and   c) connecting the intersection points with one another to define new corner points of resulting contour elements in the prescribed direction sense, and storing the new corner points for representation of a resulting workpiece.   
     
     
       2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the polygonal boundaries of the workpiece and the tool path contour are projected onto a plane perpendicular to the tool axis for identifying the intersection points. 
     
     
       3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the intersection points are identified by their position on the contour elements of the polygonal boundaries of the workpiece and tool path contour with account taken of the respective direction sense of the boundaries. 
     
     
       4. An apparatus for simulating and representing the processing of a workpiece, by a tool in which there are formed polygonal boundaries of workpiece surfaces and tool path contours altered by reciprocal three-dimensional linkages, comprising: means for processing workpiece data, tool data and tool path data; and display means for representing the resulting workpiece; said processing means comprising a plurality of data memories for storing corner point data, surface data and data regarding a tool path contour; a control mechanism connected to the data memories for allocating data stored in the data memories to geometric elements of the workpiece and of the tool path contour, which have been stored in work memories; wherein the polygonal boundaries of the workpiece and the tool path contours are oppositely direction-oriented and a computing mechanism for determining intersection points in three dimensions and depositing the intersection points in an intersection point memory, wherein the control mechanism links the intersection points from the intersection point data memory with information data about a previous state of the workpiece to provide changed workpiece data and brings a resulting workpiece into representation on the display means. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the control mechanism is connected to an NC program storer.